Ok, well....my second try. I just bought Photomatix this morning, and I was out trying to learn HDR. This was taken in my office after the usual photos of shacks and beat up stuff.
I used a tripod and shutter release, and three exposures ISO 400 f/18: at 1/13, 1/40 and 0.3 in very low back lit, out side the window very bright. The camera is new for me also 5D, with my old 24 - 105 mm lens). I can see that I need to clean my windows! I was going for strange blues and greens and round vs rectangular features. I dont know what I am doing, so any comments are welcome.
Hi Katherine - HDR = High Dynamic Range - usually used for a scene were the dynamic range exceeds what the camera can capture in a single image - so whites that are too bright and blacks that would have no detail in a single image.
So you take multiple images that have detail in the blacks (Whites blown) and detail in the whites (Blacks blocked) and merge the exposure in photomatix to create a single image with a extended dynamic range.
Then once you merge the exposures together there is a lot of latitude to CREATE a image that has a number of different looks - A natural looking image is probably the most difficult for lots of folks - a lot of HDR if trying to achieve a natural look is overdone. The Grungy look is probably the most popular.
Can see what you were trying to achieve - the BG outside does have detail (even though it was very bright) however Im not sure it is quite working with the foreground subject - might have tried to change the position a little so that the tree trunk did not come out of the top of the ball.
Katherine, I've never tried HDR so I applaud you for giving it a go. I think Lance has some good ideas and his explanation of the process is good.
I like the colors of the globe but would definitely calm down the yellows in the BG - the greens have a very funky tint to them. And then, yes, wash the windows! Or do as I do and move the whole thing outside so you can get out of the whole cleaning process and concentrate on what's REALLY important - Photography! :D
Thank you for your kind comments. I have been practicing, practicing and more practicing. (Jules, I will get out the greatfruit scented organic window cleaner on your suggestion :). So this was the first day for the new software, and about day 4 for this particular new camera. Perhaps I shouldnt post trial runs.... ha ha! I have been wondering if someone wants to try and define how underexposed is too underexposed in the -2 range of the bracketed series? I know I am aiming to get the detail in the whites and lighter colors in this end, but what should I look for? If I look at my underexposed end image, I wonder where I should cut it off, and still add the maximum to the brights in the final blended image????
Hi Kat- Interesting subject HDR. I use Photomatix too. I find it works much better than the new HDR feature in CS5 Photoshop.
One thing you have to decide in all this is what your base exposure is. You could of course expose for the black pot and then do -2 and +2 from there, or you could expose for the outdoors, or somewhere in between. You can also make more images, say -4, -2, 0, +2, +4 or use smaller increments: -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3. I would also give Exposure blending a try in Photomatix. I've had some good results with that.
blue globe HDR first try
